


Purgatorio

by TheGatsbyGirl



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Gen, L/Light is there if you squint, Mild Gore, Post-Canon, References to the Divine Comedy, Religious Imagery & Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 00:47:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11932836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGatsbyGirl/pseuds/TheGatsbyGirl
Summary: “The human who uses the notebook can neither go to Heaven nor Hell.”Light Yagami finds himself in neither Heaven nor Hell, faced with a punishment greater than any he could have faced while alive.





	Purgatorio

“Truth is I found myself upon the verge  
of pain’s abysmal valley, which collects  
the thunder-roll of everlasting woes.  
So dark it was, so deep and full of mist,  
that, howsoe’er I gazed into its depths,  
nothing at all did I discern therein.”

–Dante Alighieri,  _The Divine Comedy, Vol. 1 – Inferno_

* * *

When Light woke up, all he saw was gray.

  
An endless gray, no sun on the horizon, no streets crowded with neon traffic, no trees reaching for the sky. Just space. When he sat up and stood, he couldn’t even tell if there was a ground. Whatever he was standing on was as gray as everything else.

  
But this was wrong. He shouldn’t be standing, he shouldn’t be waking up. He was dead. Gone. The worst of it should have been over.

  
Dying had been bad enough. He’d been made a fool of, shot by an even bigger fool, robbed of his new world. Robbed of  _everything_.

  
But now it seemed like it wasn’t over.  _I’m just hallucinating. This is what happens before you die. I’m losing blood and seeing things. Soon my whole family will appear and they’ll beckon me into a bright light and that will be the end of it._

_  
Right?_

  
“The human who uses the notebook can neither go to Heaven nor Hell.”

  
A voice. A deep, gravelly voice behind a perpetual fanged smile.

_  
Ryuk._

  
Light crossed his arms as the shinigami drew closer. “You wrote down my name.”

  
“You sound surprised.”

  
Light’s gaze dropped to his feet. He wasn’t surprised. This was part of the deal. The chance to change the world in exchange for his name in Ryuk’s handwriting. He knew it all.

  
But that didn’t make him any less pissed.

  
“Where am I?”

  
“I already told you. You are in neither Heaven nor Hell. Limbo, so to speak. Your own personal Purgatory.”

  
Anger began to coil in Light’s chest. “Purgatory?  _Purgatory?_  How can I be here? I saved thousands of lives, I delivered the verdicts that the law failed to give! I shouldn’t be here!”

  
Ryuk’s grin stayed wide, as always. “Doesn’t matter. You used the Death Note, so you’re here.”

 _  
You cheated me. You cheated me out of my spot in Heaven and left me here. Forever._  “You bastard,” he snarled.

  
“Call me whatever you want. I’m not here to fight with you, I’m just here to see you off. By the way, I didn’t cheat you out of anything. You went into this with your pretty little eyes open.”

  
The worst part about it all was that Ryuk was right. Light was in the middle of nowhere,  _dead_ , and wrong.

  
“I’m…” Light’s hand balled into a shaky fist. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I knew about all of this, it’s just…”

 _  
Unfair_.

  
“…Hard to take in.”

  
Ryuk wheezed. “Well you have all the time in the world to get adjusted. Relax. Make yourself at home.” He held a shriveled oblong fruit out to Light, leering as he spoke. “Have an apple.”

  
Light took the apple and bit into it. Bitterness filled his mouth, but he wouldn’t give Ryuk the satisfaction of seeing him grimace. “So this is my own little corner of Purgatory?” 

  
Ryuk nodded.

  
“Just me for all eternity?”

  
Another nod and a gleam in his yellow eyes. “Just you.”

  
“And some friends.”

  
Light froze and a pale hand slid onto his shoulder. “We are friends, are we not?”

  
As Ryuk cackled, Light spun around to meet a dark gaze that he knew all too well.

  
It suddenly felt a lot more like hell.

  
“Ryuzaki?”

  
“There’s no need for pseudonyms here, Light.”

  
Light didn’t know what he was expecting. Maybe feathery wings or a halo. Or perhaps horns and cloven hooves. But L looked the same as he always did. Inky hair a mess, shoulders hunched under a rumpled t-shirt. Eyes as glassy and wide as a doll’s.

  
Ryuk was gone. It was just the two of them, as it had always been in life.

  
“What are you doing here?”

  
“Can’t tell you that yet.”

  
Typical L. Never giving a straight answer, always getting under his skin. Even as a ghost. Or an illusion. Or whatever he was now.

  
“Where are we?”

  
L shrugged. “Not certain.” He looked around, taking in the nothing that surrounded them. “I assume we’re in your Purgatory. That’s what the shinigami said, and I trust his word more than I trust yours.”

  
Damn. Damn L to Hell along with the criminals he sent there. “Could you maybe be straight with me for once?”

  
The detective hummed. “Well to start things off, I knew. I knew when you were incarcerated, but when I died my suspicions were confirmed.”

  
Light smiled. “Good.”

  
L’s thumb brushed his bottom lip as he took a step closer to Light. “You’re smart, Light. And I really did consider you my friend. But we are equals now. You have no power over me.”

 _  
You’re wrong. I’ve always had power over you. I won’t let you control me now._ Light let out a soft laugh. “L, maybe you should get whatever you came here for over with. I have nothing to say to you.”

  
He nodded and gave Light a long look before stepping behind him.

  
Then everything changed.

  
It wasn’t empty anymore. His vision was overwhelmed with a million sights. He saw men clutching their chests and convulsing before being seized by stillness. Their screaming hearts falling on deaf ears. Heads lolling to the side and faces turning red, then purple, then losing all color.

  
He saw the mangled body of Kiichirou Osoreda lying on a pavement stained with blood.

  
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Look at what you have made, Kira.”

  
He saw Raye Penber, covered in dirt, maggots eating away at his slack-jawed face. He saw Naomi Misora at the bottom of the sea, ankles tied to weights, face bloated and blackened.

  
“This is your sentence. The fate of all those who possess the notebook.”

  
This was all wrong. This wasn’t what came from the Death Note. No, what came from the Death Note was  _good_. There were no crimes. There shouldn’t  _be_  a sentence.

  
“No. I didn’t do this. I made the world a better place for the people who lead good lives. It was a sacrifice I had to make…for the greater good…”

  
L’s chest pressed against Light’s back, fingers digging into his shoulders. “Tell me, Light,” L whispered, his breath cold against Light’s ear. “And for once tell me the truth. What does justice look like?”

  
“It’s golden. Good people living in harmony…”  _please don’t let me cry, not in front of him,_  “smiles…laughs…” his voice cracked. “ _Hope_.”

  
L raised a bony hand, pointing at the carnage in front of him. “Is this your justice, Light Yagami?”

  
Kurou Otoharada, the one who started it all, gasping for air as the blood stopped in his veins. Takuo Shibuimaru sprawled across a crushed motorcycle with glass shards embedded in his face. Kanichi Takamura’s neck bruised by his tie. Kiyomi, once so beautiful, now lying burned among a dying fire.

  
Light sunk to his knees. L was fading away, yet he couldn’t move; he couldn’t look away. Soon all that would be left were the hundreds of faces that would never leave him alone, that would torment him for eternity. The faces of the dead. The faces of the murdered.

 _  
No, I’m not a murderer, I’m a shepherd of good, I am justice, I am_ Kira…

  
“Is this the new world that you dreamed of?”

**Author's Note:**

> …I should REALLY be working on my college essay…  
> I’ve had this idea in my head ever since I started watching Death Note, and after watching the Netflix abomination, I decided to write it down. I’m also not partial to the Shinigami!Light fan theory, so I decided to do my own take on what happens to Light after his death. If you squint you can see my precious Lawlight, but adding that ship really didn't fit here. It's coming, I promise.  
>   
> \-------  
> Thank you for reading this. Comments and kudos water my crops!  
> Yell at me on [tumblr](http://kataruhh.tumblr.com) | [twitter](https://twitter.com/TheGatsbyGirl)


End file.
